Posts Tagged ‘Japan’

Working 12 hour days is becoming the norm as the deadline for Freedom 2 draws closer, and with the animators finishing up their scenes work is piling up as they get passed on to us for lighting and rendering. Just last friday we had first look at the 30 second spot for Freedom 2 that will be up on Japan TV soon, and it feels great to be involved in a project that is always on air, at least for the better part of the next 2 years until Freedom Project concludes with episode 7. Crunch time has barely started.

I’ve not had any decent chance to watch films the past few months, but with me settling down pretty comfortably at work now I really want to make up for lost time. Its time to get back to the source.

Some cool stuff that comes along with work on Freedom Project : 1) My email address is myname@steamboy.net, which I am more than ok with; 2) Otomo ( yes, the dude who created that somewhat famous animation Akira ) came by the studio yesterday, tying up some loose ends on a new animation film soon to be released. His work desk by the way, is really untidy…ha.

Here at Sunrise Studios Ogikubo work has commenced on episode 2 of Freedom, with epsiode 1 scheduled for dvd release later this month. Today as the entire Freedom team sat down with the director to run through the storyboard it dawned on me that I was the only foreigner working on Freedom. I wonder if I should feel hououred or alienated, perhaps a bit of both. Its no mistake however that my companions are some of the most talented animators here in Japan, many of whom have worked on Otomo’s Steamboy; my animation “supervisor” is a kid 21 years old.

So…back to work.

Blue Skies.

The year was 1989. I was on a usual weekend family visit to my grandparents place. It was totally mundane and largely routine; we would always arrive in the mid afternoon, have dinner prepared by my grandmother, and then head home around 9 or 10 o’clock. But something that would transpire that evening made it an unforgettable day etched forever in my memory. My youngest uncle, whom me and my brother liked immensely because of his huge collection of Japanese comics and cartoons, was once again poised to impress us with his latest acquisitions. Popping the laserdisc ( I still remember vividly those huge and cumbersome laserdiscs, awkward by today’s standards but state of the art then ) into the player as the film started, the television screen was filled by the image of a huge and hulking crater, as a bold red title appeared.

The film was Akira. Neither me nor my brother had ever seen anything as devastatingly powerful and at once shocking; indeed, few animation films past and present can challenge the sheer awe and depth of this groundbreaking animation masterpiece. I was immediately hooked; I must have lived and breathed Akira for years to come, watching the film countless times and poring over the comics, its imaginative and detail artwork the stuff I wish I could one day, if even just a tiny percentage of that beauty, recreate.

Fast forward 17 years into the future, I am now 27 and on a film scholarship here in Tokyo, Japan. Its a cold October evening and I’m rushing around like a madman in Ogikubo, searching frantically for the studio where I was supposed to attend an interview for a job that should have started 30 minutes ago.

“Where the hell have you been ? Get the f**k outta here, we do not entertain late comers.” These nightmarish thoughts, soon to become reality I figure, flashed over and over again in my mind.

* * *

One hour later. I emerged from the studio, bowing profusely. The director said he liked the work he saw on my website, hopes for me to begin work with them soon.

The name of the studio, stuck nonchalantly on the door, read Steamboy Studios; the name of the assignment that I am soon to embark on : Project Freedom; character designer; Katsuhiro Otomo.

I’m greatly honoured to join the Project Freedom committee, standing on the shoulder of giants. To me, the chance of working on a Otomo Katsuhiro film is nothing short of a dream come true. I live a blessed life, I think.

Here are the 300kbs, 500kbs, and 1Mbs previews of Freedom.

In an era when most folks are eagerly abandoning those mouldy film cameras for their sparkling, high tech digital counterparts I seem to be taking a journey in the opposite direction, shooting on my 2nd hand Mamiya 645 medium format camera. Been an absolute sucker for rich, intense tones and that inexplicable warmth of celluloid my Mamiya delivers, and then some. Certainly, digital is here to stay and I adore my Nikon D70s, but for that classy age old look that is film, I’ll still put my trust in those spiffy silver halides. Big thanks to Takeshi for scanning the negs.

Kyoto/Osaka/Nara trip – Quite simply in two words; beauty and tranquilty. Think breathtaking shrines and temples, and then some.

A recent 16mm film shoot filling up 2 weekends have had me appreciate the value of sleep in a way I had not since the army days; let’s hope at least the rushes turn out decent. As we wrap up things on this shoot preproduction starts for my final year project, in between a serious and earnest lookout for a job opening here in Tokyo. Amidst these hustling events just as I am about to lose sense of all time and purpose an appropriately timed present from my Korean sharemate ushers me back to one of my most cherished creative inspiration; a book procured from a 2nd hand book store; a Iwai Shunji’s Love Letter photobook, for less than 1.50 singapore dollars. To me, its true worth can hardly ever be calculated.

I could have just died of esctacy right there in Shinkiba’s club Ageha on Friday when Paul Van Dyk finished up his dizzying 3 hour set with the mind blowing tunes from his magnum opus track “For An Angel”. PVD me anytime, anywhere.

The annual retreat back into wilderness and the embrace of everything natural continues this year with a 5 day travel itinerary to Takasaki in the Gunma Perfecture, hometown of my very good friend Takeshi. Here ample thanks and gratitude must be appropriated to my hosts Takeshi+Kojima whom without them this trip would never have been possible. We travelled far and wide for hours to distant mountains and waterfalls, cabbage farms so huge and wide it was like standing in the middle of the world; quiet, undiscovered villages that could only have appeared in quaint old Japanese films. One night a miraculously timed, passing glance into the starry skies had us catching a beautiful, long tailed shooting star. What are the odds.

Takeshi’s father is a farmer so every trip back to Takasaki is like a dietary detox session; an astonishing variety of homegrown vegetables are eaten and meat consumption drops to a virtual zero.

Kojima attempts a Kodak moment.

The Ito residence.

No, I didn’t digitally enhanced the colours on these flowers; they were of the very same intensity I saw with my own eyes, but Takeshi quickly informs : “Erm..these are actually the flowers of…weeds.” Killjoy.

Takeshi+Kojima+loadsa’cactus.

I don’t ever remember seeing a Macdonald’s print ad as hip as this one in our ( Singapore ) Mac’s. Not even remotely close. Simple and clean, yet screaming coolness, its interesting how a mere Macdonald’s tray sheet can tell you about a country’s culture and fashion sense ( or lack thereof ).

I would like to take some comfort in believing that the jetlag suffered from the flight back to Tokyo after my annual Singapore holiday is the genuine cause of my recent bumming and inactivity in all matters big and small ( school doesn’t start till the 2nd week of April. I think. ), but a full week would be pushing it. even for someone particularly susceptible to disruptions in their circadian rhythm. Its astonishing how a mere 3 weeks of indulgence in convenient Singlish ( there’s virtually zero chance of communicating in english here in Tokyo, much less singlish for that matter ) and the all too familiar, snug comfort zone can do to one’s hitherto half-f**ked Japanese; it was as if my inner brain functions have been all this while waiting for the opportune moment to steal back, realign their native, singlish languaged neurons from the spots where the Japanese *once* occupied.

I was a tourist by the time I touched down in Narita; already I could foresee nightmarish days when school starts, awkward lost in translation moments, but we’ll deal with that as it comes along. Before crunch time sets in I think I’ll just catch up on a few more dvds, yes please.